Coincidence or synchronicity?

100122 13:07
Coincidence or synchronicity?
Carl Jung, one of the fathers of contemporary psychology, defined the word ‘synchronicity’ as an “outward manifestation of an inward thought.” We all have moments of revelation when someone else, or another source, is addressing the same issue simultaneous  with our thoughts overtly. In my life and times this has happened frequently yet I dismissed the experience as merely coincidence. The consequence was that I muddled along with the ‘best that I could do’ by my own discernment. Or, worse, I fell in love with the source misapprehending the author.
Experience with my own addictions lead me to conclude that I paid too much attention to the person, place or thing I was “addicted “ to.
Everyone, by lose definition, processes life experience through experiential filters: thinking, sensing, feeling or intuition with minor combinations of a secondary influence. I have begun to balance the four instead of the two I normally used inherently.
Retrospectively I should have said “am attempting to integrate” the four kinds of perception. We learn more by our failures than our successes. It is not an ideal of wearing rose colored glasses all the time but of really paying attention to the source of our information. Most of the time we are seeking affirmation of our convictions, “magical thinking”, instead of what we can learn. It follows that when I  consume information I am now attempting to parse the meaning of everything I allow into the rock polisher of my mind. More often than not I find myself attempting to understand the motives involved through a filter of prophesy versus profit.
I have nothing against wealth and profit but when it costs me too much I begin to bridle. The consequence is that I vote with my wallet, feet or attention. At the same time I take umbrage at those who use psychology to manipulate me into their ideal behavior and so my response is considered and conscious, not reactionary.
In this regard I sense I’ve painted myself into a corner and find myself addressing, yet again, “Love your enemy.” And flowing into that consideration is a host of other sayings/parables of Jesus that inform me that I am moving in the right direction. “Innocent as a dove and wily as a fox.” Neither are stupid as some  would presume.
I was once addicted to dysfunctional relationships, unconscious of my motives to heal them so I could have a life. Despite my many failings I am still moving forward toward a self-derived understanding. No longer worshiping resources that would otherwise use and abuse me to their ends or agendas.
Attention to synchronicity is near constant now. I am often humbled by grace especially that given by strangers and those who actually love/loved me when I could not love or accept myself.
In a sincere sense it was I who failed to respond to all the opportunities freely given in life to live better than I did previously. The primary source of my self-loathing originated in my parents anxiety that I become better able to survive economically--they were both young adults during the Great Depression--so I better understand and forgive their vehemence defining me as “too stupid to get in out of the rain.” If I have empathy for my ‘enemy’ now it is because I was once an enemy to myself.